Effect of Initial Microstructures on the Properties of Ferrite-martensite Dual-phase Pipeline Steels with Strain-based Design

This study aims to investigate the effect of initial microstructures on the properties of ferrite-martensite dual-phase pipeline steels with strain-based design. For this purpose, the as-received acicular ferrite steels were first austenitized at 920 degrees C for 15 minutes followed by air cooling and water quenching to produce ferrite-pearlite and ferrite-martensite microstructure, respectively. Subsequently, the steels with ferrite-pearlite, ferrite-martensite and as-received acicular ferrite microstructure were intercritically annealed at 820 degrees C for 10 minutes followed by water quenching to produce three different ferrite-martensite dual-phase microstructures. Tensile tests, Vickers hardness and Charpy impact tests were carried out to investigate the mechanical properties. Scanning electron microscope was used to analyze the microstructures and tensile fractographs. The results showed that all the tensile specimens of these three different ferrite-martensite dual-phase steels fractured in ductile mode, however, their microstructures and mechanical properties varied significantly. By contrast, the ferrite-martensite dual-phase steel derived from acicular ferrite initial microstructure had optimal combination of the strength, toughness and deformability, which provided a good candidate for the pipeline steels with strain-based design used in severe geological environments.